A whole bunch of pennies, on the other hand, could mean Christmas for a sick child.

Melady Harrod wants people to dig deep into their coin jars and seat cushions to help her deliver a Christmas for a child at Toronto Sick Children's Hospital. This is the third year the nine-year-old has collected pennies; last year, she gathered up 22,200 pennies,

"When my brother was younger, he was sick with a tumor and on life support at Sick Kids," she said. "Because they helped my brother, I wanted to thank them in some way, and make other kids feel better."

She noted her mom, Jessy Coulter, had some pennies in a cupholder, and asked what she was going to do with them.

When her mom responded, "nothing, really, they're pennies," and that sparked the idea to collect them in order to buy presents for a child at the hospital.

"Without hesitation, I gave her my pennies," said Coulter, "That year I helped her reach out to family and friends to ask if they had any pennies to contribute, (and) they were happy to help."

The first year she collected $117 in pennies, and went shopping for a five-year-old girl who was at Sick Kids; however, the girl died before Christmas, though the family still delivered the presents to the hospital to be given a deserving girl.

Last year, along with the pennies, a local gas station donated the gas and oil to deliver the presents, and Wal-Mart provided her with a $20 gift certificate. Last year the presents went to a six-year-old boy with leukemia

I just want to get presents for a child so they'll be happy at Christmas," said Melady. "The longer I do this, the more people will become aware about it, and maybe learned something from it."

Melady is collecting pennies until Dec. 10. Contact Coulter at jessy_coulter@hotmail.com, or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/MelsPennies/.